Hail Damage - Fiberglass Roof

enjo13 · 05-08-2017, 09:44 PM

So we got hit by hail.. hard. It put a bunch of tears in our Alante's roof. Insurance has been called. We'll see an adjuster soon I hope...

We were planning on heading out for a long trip later this week. That's probably on hold, but it sounds like we're not going to be able to get our rig in for service for like a month or two regardless.

Can we just tape up the holes (eternabond) and go on our trip? If we use enternabond will it prevent a proper repair from being done in the future?

Basically, anyone have experience here? Would love to hear more options

Oklahoma Dan · 05-08-2017, 10:19 PM

Eternabond from what I have seen in the videos probably will stick to and patch anything. However considering costs to replace a roof which is where you are obviously headed...I would not change a thing with that roof until the insurance adjuster inspected and gave you clearance on roof replacement and setting up with the dealer. I wouldn't risk this insurance claim that you are certainly justified in receiving. Yes, that trip may have to be postponed.

BigJohnD · 05-09-2017, 07:47 AM

If they have to replace it, you're WAY better off just getting the lifetime sprayed roof from these guys: RVRoof | Home of the original sprayed RV Roof

I assure you you're insurance would rather pay for this, plus it's better than anything on the market. PM member edatlanta if you want to talk to someone that has one. You'll never have this problem again. I know several that have them and you won't find anything negative about them.

Jopopsy · 05-09-2017, 10:18 AM

Hail tore the fiberglass roof? How does hail tear fiberglass? Or does that year Alante have a rubber roof?

I actually would have thought the rubber would be more forgiving w/ hail.

Sundancer330 · 05-09-2017, 10:26 AM

How many holes are you talking about, I would be more worried about water getting in while waiting for repairs and doing more damage. If it was me I would take many pictures and or a video and send them to the adjuster and ask if you can do a temp tape repair with Eternabond or does he need to see the damage first. If he is ok with that you are free to vacation and get the repair done later.

jloco · 05-09-2017, 12:05 PM

I agree with Sundancer. I would definitely PUSH to get an adjuster out ASAP. I would get the go ahead from the adjuster before patching it up.

Jagiven · 05-09-2017, 12:39 PM

I would have the adjuster look at it ASAP, I would even tape the holes with a polyvinyl tape while waiting for the adjuster. Then I would not let the holes keep me from my vacations. depending on the hole sizes, I would leave the polyvinyl tape on them, or go with a eternabond.

I too, would seriously look at the spray on roof. Coworker did it, he absolutely loves it. He is trading in the 5ver this summer for an Airstream.

enjo13 · 05-09-2017, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jopopsy

Hail tore the fiberglass roof? How does hail tear fiberglass? Or does that year Alante have a rubber roof?

I actually would have thought the rubber would be more forgiving w/ hail.

That's a good question. All of the other fiberglass roofs in our storage facility came through juts fine. The roof is indeed fiberglass.

All of the damage was on the rounded part of the roof near the edges.

Each piece of tape is a tear (don't worry it's sealed up much better now). Basically the relatively thin fiberglass in the rounded part is unsupported by anything on those edges. I can push on it and it seems like it has a 1/2" or so of travel before hitting anything solid. Meaning that when hail hits it it's just brittle fiberglass with no support. It's always gonna end up this way.

It's certainly a design defect. I'm wondering if it's a construction one? I'm gonna head to an RV lot and check out some other Alante's/Precepts and see if others have the same support issues. Cause this is gonna happen every single time there is hail.

Vicr · 05-09-2017, 08:05 PM

So wait a minute, when mother nature causes a tornado, hurricane, title surge, flood etc. and property is damaged it's because of design and construction defects? Look you were hit by hail, sustained damage and it needs to be repaired. It's part of life. There are some times when "Blaming" just doesn't work. I'm sorry your rig is damaged. You have insurance, will pay your deductible and it will get fixed.

enjo13 · 05-09-2017, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicr

So wait a minute, when mother nature causes a tornado, hurricane, title surge, flood etc. and property is damaged it's because of design and construction defects? Look you were hit by hail, sustained damage and it needs to be repaired. It's part of life. There are some times when "Blaming" just doesn't work. I'm sorry your rig is damaged. You have insurance, will pay your deductible and it will get fixed.

*sighs*

While I appreciate the lecture, in this case I think there is absolutely a design issue. It may have been a few minutes since my materials engineering class, but there are clear issues with the way the fiberglass is laid on my coach. There is a reason the damage is localized to the edge of the roof cap. There is also a reason that all of the other coaches around me came through with no structural damage to their roofs.

Mother nature may have delivered the hail, but Jayco failed to create a structurally sound fiberglass cap. As an engineer it's fairly obvious to me.

Of course it doesn't matter very much. It will get fixed one way or another ( I'm going to be looking at some of the alternative roof systems suggested already.. this will definitely tear the next time it's exposed to moderate hail).

BigJohnD · 05-10-2017, 06:06 AM

I know I already mentioned it, but the Flex Armor roof is in fact just about anything proof. They'll send you a sample if you want. I do know a member of the FR forum that had his fiberglass roof done on his motorhome due to cracking. FR paid for it opposed to putting the same thing back on it.

So why don't I have one? I can't afford it, even though its WAY cheaper than a new fiberglass or rubber roof. But, if mine gets damaged due to a storm, that's what's going on it.

Bookemdanno · 05-10-2017, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJohnD

I know I already mentioned it, but the Flex Armor roof is in fact just about anything proof. They'll send you a sample if you want. I do know a member of the FR forum that had his fiberglass roof done on his motorhome due to cracking. FR paid for it opposed to putting the same thing back on it.

So why don't I have one? I can't afford it, even though its WAY cheaper than a new fiberglass or rubber roof. But, if mine gets damaged due to a storm, that's what's going on it.

I will be doing the same when my roof needs to be replaced. I've already checked into it and received a quote for my roof. There's a place about 30 mins from me in Denton, TX that puts the Flex Armor product on.

t18skyguy · 05-10-2017, 02:13 PM

This man has a valid complaint. I went up and inspected my new Greyhawk, and about 3 inches from the edge of the roof, the support for the fiberglass drops off dramatically. What is obviously absent is a routed wooden contour that would support that curve from 3 inches out and down to the side. The fiberglass is very thin and not supported in that area. I do think that there might be a simple prophylactic fix such as running eternabond tape down the entire length of this roof in the critical edges. Anything to provide impact resistance. I would like to hear ideas for impact resistance because I am not going to wait till this happens to me. Hail comes from thunderstorms, which are not exactly uncommon.

Vicr · 05-10-2017, 02:53 PM

As we say in construction: " We can do what ever you want, it just takes money". I f Jayco, Winnebago or any other RV manufacturer were to design and build RV's for every type of "common to geographical area" weather our gas class A's would cost over 200k. In the northwest we get stupid amounts of precipitation, in the Southwest stupid amounts of heat, in the south stupid amounts of humidity and in some states ridiculous snow loads. Manufacturers can build a coach that will withstand all the "common" types of weather we have in this country and Canada. Oh and the response to my comments will be "but how much would it cost to..." yah I get it add everyones "but how much" and we are at or above $200k. The fundamental problem we have here is that society has changed into a BLAME society. If something happens then "someone should have something". Well whether it's a manufacturer or a builder the answer is my opening statement: "It just takes money". But do you want to pay for it?? Yes, and skyguy I know where hail comes from, now define "common" from a manufacturers standpoint please.

Baker1131 · 05-10-2017, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jopopsy

Hail tore the fiberglass roof? How does hail tear fiberglass? Or does that year Alante have a rubber roof?

I actually would have thought the rubber would be more forgiving w/ hail.

If this member is in CO and in the Denver/Metro area, we had a severe weather storm drop 3" diameter hail two days ago. I bet that would do it. I was fortunate to have my trailer in a lot that did not get hail.

t18skyguy · 05-11-2017, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicr

As we say in construction: " We can do what ever you want, it just takes money". I f Jayco, Winnebago or any other RV manufacturer were to design and build RV's for every type of "common to geographical area" weather our gas class A's would cost over 200k. In the northwest we get stupid amounts of precipitation, in the Southwest stupid amounts of heat, in the south stupid amounts of humidity and in some states ridiculous snow loads. Manufacturers can build a coach that will withstand all the "common" types of weather we have in this country and Canada. Oh and the response to my comments will be "but how much would it cost to..." yah I get it add everyones "but how much" and we are at or above $200k. The fundamental problem we have here is that society has changed into a BLAME society. If something happens then "someone should have something". Well whether it's a manufacturer or a builder the answer is my opening statement: "It just takes money". But do you want to pay for it?? Yes, and skyguy I know where hail comes from, now define "common" from a manufacturers standpoint please.

Common would be a naturally occurring regular event in such that a typical roof, whether RV or house, would withstand. A tornado would not be common, nor a tree limb, but your missing the point. Why was I able to stand on the very edge of my 96 Jayco Eagle roof, but I don't dare do that on my Greyhawk because it would crack it? What they did was adhere the fiberglass down from the crown, but just curled the fiberglass over three inches from the edge without support. There is insufficient support near and under the edge radius.This is an obvious engineering oversight. Even a simple aluminum/wood curve under that area would have cured it, and not cost a lot of money either. I'm not saying Jayco has to make anyone whole, but I would think that they might address this area in the future. That thin fiberglass needs 100% support everywhere it lays. I'm sure they'll get to it. I'm an FAA inspector 30 years, and i'm not going to utter platitudes when I know it needs to be right.

Jopopsy · 05-11-2017, 06:38 AM

I remember when I was hemming and hawing about getting a leftover 2015 or a 2016 Greyhawk, one of our members pointed out that new features tend to have a 'breaking in' period where the manufacturer learns a thing or two and modifies the design.

Sounds like Jayco needs to make a modification here. I wonder if they will? They can't say their current Greyhawks w/ the fiberglass roof are fully walk-able anymore.

t18skyguy · 05-11-2017, 12:52 PM

It's discussion and debate just like that evolves the product forward.

Borden's · 05-14-2017, 11:54 AM

Roof design is questionable. We took delivery of our new Alante Feb 10, 2017-after returning home with it, found a couple cracks in the roof along the edge where the roof rolls down. The same place as the hail damage reported on the original post. Contacted Jayco, and they are going to replace the whole roof -under warranty. After this discussion, (realizing their was no backing where it is cracked), when I take it in to have the roof replaced this September, I will bring up the point about no backing being under the rolled edge and see what they say about the poor design. I will let you all know. However, service dept did patch the roof until I go in September.

BigJohnD · 05-14-2017, 03:42 PM

Jayco ain't the first manf to deal with cracks at the edge, and sometimes other places. Forester / Sunseeker, Tiffin just to name a few. Tiffin's was a one piece outfit that already had the radius molded in, so it wasn't forced over the radius and secured. Foresters was forced over. No telling how many 1000's of roofs they fixed over the years. Guess they got it sorted out finally.

You'd think each manf would watch the others failures and take notes. Still, the sprayed roof is the answer, but only 1 manf ever offered that, and that was Excel fifth wheels. It's too time consuming for the production rate they shoot for. Oh well.

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